


stay together.

by Anonymous



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, F/M, Hawkecest (Dragon Age), Incest, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Non-Explicit Sex, Sibling Incest, the hawke family's weird contentious insular dynamic that im obsessed with as a writer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:07:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27456979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: A few weeks after their arrival in Kirkwall, the Hawke siblings try to figure out how they fit in their new home.
Relationships: Bethany Hawke/Carver Hawke/Female Hawke, Bethany Hawke/Carver Hawke/Hawke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3
Collections: Anonymous





	stay together.

The sharpening stone, wrapped carefully in a clean cloth, _shing_ ed softly as it slid down the blade of Hawke’s sword, over and over, rhythmic in the quiet room. Normally, Marian could lose herself in a task like this, the repetitive movements and soothing sounds quieting something in her mind, but today she couldn’t quite settle into the work.

Maybe it was the air. Marian could smell the difference in Gamlen’s hovel, the stale dust and faint whiffs of liquor. It didn’t smell any worse than the barracks did when she was still a soldier, honestly, but it smelled _unfamiliar_. Like every breath was a subtle reminder of a new city filled with places and people that Marian didn’t know and couldn’t trust. 

Marian had never liked unfamiliarity, but growing up in a family of apostates meant she got used to frequent changes of domicile. This was different from that. Worse than that. 

Gamlen’s rasping, drawling voice coupled with Leandra’s brisk one seeped faintly through the wall and corridor that separated the ‘spare bedroom’ (storeroom with a bunk bed shoved crookedly into it) from the kitchen where the older Hawkes--or is mother an Amell again now? Hawke wondered idly and with not a little contempt--were supposed to be cleaning up from dinner. Occasionally, Carver’s voice rose with them, and then the other two quieted to murmurs again. Every time the voices rose, however briefly, Bethany threw a sharp glance at the door and bit her lip.

Bethany had been pacing the floor of the narrow room for the past hour, stepping over Marian’s outstretched right leg and carefully around the sharp corner of the stack of crates in the back corner. Her soft, stockinged footsteps played a restless counterpart to the sound of Marian’s sharpening stone.

“You’ll wear the floor thin.” Marian finally spoke, when Bethany threw yet another worried look at the door.

“Not before you wear through that blade, sister.” Bethany stopped at last, and crouched to sit beside her, smoothing the wrinkles from her skirts as she did so. Marian obligingly pulled up her legs to make room. She propped her chin on one knee, staring at her sister.

“I feel a little bad for Carver.” Bethany spoke first, as she typically did. “That we left him alone with mother and Gamlen tonight like we did.”

“He’ll be fine. Must be near done clearing the one table by now.”

“It doesn’t take an hour to clear a table. I think they’re just arguing.”

“Maybe. Still. Better’n leaving those two alone.”

Bethany hummed in agreement, dark eyes wide open with worry. “Mari, I-- I love mother, you know I do. But she-- well, I don’t know if she realizes that Gamlen doesn’t _have_ to let us stay, and I’m worried if she keeps picking fights with him... I mean, we’re his family, but--”

“He’s not family. Not like we are.” _I’d never put your children in a storeroom. I’d never gamble away your fortune, or try to take Carver’s birthright._

“Well, that’s not his fault.” Weariness slowed Bethany’s words. “I’m sure he’s trying his best, I just don’t see why he and mother have to… oh, I don’t know.” She buried her face in her hands, long, pale fingers digging into long, dark hair.

When Marian reached for her, Bethany moved into the embrace without hesitation. 

“We’re not going anywhere, leastways not ‘till we’ve got somewhere better to go. I’ll be sure of that.” Marian spoke steadily, rubbing firm circles into Bethany’s shoulder.

Bethany laughed, a warm puff of air against the exposed skin above Marian’s shirt collar. “I don’t know how you can guarantee that, Mari, but I almost believe it.”

“Believe it. We’ll be fine, Bethy.” _I have no fucking clue how, since you’re right that Gamlen might not let us stay for very long just out of charity or family feeling, but we’ll figure it out. Maybe Meeran will give us extra work on the side, apart from what we already owe, or Carver can actually join the guards like I heard him talking to Aveline about on the way over to Kirkwall. We’ll find something. I’ll think of something._

Eventually, the conversation from the other room subsided. Bethany got up with a murmured “I should check on mother,” but first pressed a quick, soft kiss to the crook of Marian’s neck. As Bethany left the room, Marian reached up automatically to touch where her sister’s lips had pressed, before shaking her head with a small laugh and getting up herself to go and feed the dog.  
*** 

Once night finally fell and Leandra retired early to bed, Carver took a very long walk. No one was surprised by this, since “sulking walks” (as Bethany called them) had been a habit of his since age fourteen. But Marian waited up for him anyway. Carver can take care of himself, but Kirkwall is a big city, and anyway Marian always waits up for him. She’s the oldest, it’s her responsibility. 

Bethany eventually did go to sleep, her body a slight, shapeless form beneath the threadbare coverlet on the top bunk. If Marian listened closely, she could hear her sister’s breath in the quiet semi-darkness. She glanced up at the top bunk periodically from where she sat on the floor at the foot of the bed, legs stretched out at angles before her and her fingers tapping a noiseless rhythm on her knee. 

In the front room, down the hall, she could also hear a faint clatter of crockery. Her uncle might have been tidying up, or he might have been drinking alone, and Marian didn’t really care. Still, she thought that she couldn’t really blame him, not when she knew what Leandra was like when she decided to win an argument. With how she and her mother had gone at each other when Marian was a teenager, she probably would have started drinking too, if there’d been anything in the house. And if Malcolm wouldn’t have kicked her ass if he’d caught her….

Marian’s thoughts wandered, and she started to doze. At the sound of the back door opening she started up, one hand shooting to the sword still resting beside her, before she recognized her brother’s footsteps in the hall.

The door creaked as it opened, and Marian glanced up to verify that Bethany was still sleeping peacefully in her bed. She was. Carver looked to be less peaceful.

He stood in the doorway with hands shoved deep in his pockets, like the hangdog teenager he mostly wasn’t anymore. He glanced down at Marian, and snorted when he saw her sword lying on the floor. “Someone’s gonna step on that thing, and anyway you shouldn’t leave it out like that. Whatever would Commander Ardgall say?”

“Probably make me dig latrines.” Marian dragged the sword up, and propped it in the corner of the room, tucked safely behind the door. She stood, slinging an arm roughly around Carver’s shoulders before he could get a chance to pretend he’s too old to want a hug. “Alright?” she asked softly.

Carver shrugged. “I’m in this piss-smelling city of opportunity and our great ancestors’ heritage, so why wouldn’t I be peachy?”

Marian snickered and knocked her forehead gently against her brother’s. “Probably smells better in Hightown.”

“Like we’ll ever find out.”

“You never know.”

“Sure.” Carver shrugged Marian off, and turned to unstrap his vambraces. “Sure, and Gamlen’s really a prince in disguise.”

“We’re sorry for leaving you with them.” Marian tried to phrase it the way Bethany would if she were awake. She wished Bethany was awake; she’s always been better at getting on with Carver when he’s in a mood.

“Not sorry enough not to do it though.” 

“Must have been...difficult?” She hazarded.

“It wasn’t _difficult_ , just really fucking awkward. Like they were trying to bring up every resentment they ever had as kids just to get a rise out of each other, and most of the time they forgot I was in the room. Not like that’s new.” Carver sighed, and tossed his leather guards onto the floor next to Marian’s sword. “Doesn’t matter. Let’s get some sleep.”

Silently, they both stripped off their boots, shirts, and what little remained of their armor. In the morning they’ll both regret throwing everything down on the floor in one big pile, since it’s almost impossible to tell their clothes apart---most of it is military-issue anyway--but for now, all they want is to get into bed.

But when they are in bed, sprawling over each other in the narrow bottom bunk, they don’t immediately sleep. It’s too late and they’re too tired and the location is too bad for them to have any real desire, but need drives them to each other anyway. Maybe it's the need for something familiar, or for some reassurance in this new and un-promising situation, or maybe just for each other, but Carver’s hand is on Marian’s hip and his lips pressing against her neck practically before she’s even really lying down. She pulls him closer to her, feeling the familiar lines of her brother’s body like a physical shock of relief. Freed of the need for words that are never quite right, she slips a hand between Carver’s legs and a protective arm around his shoulders, and thinks of how he will never, ever leave her, how they will never leave Bethany, how nothing can ever force the three of them apart. Carver shudders against her, his breaths quick and hot and lovely, and Marian briefly feels safe enough to relax for the first time in weeks as they finally fall asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> marian might get a "world's okayest sister" mug for her birthday.
> 
> Also I am aware that no one in the world calls their sister "sister" like it's a name, I know it's ridiculous. But it's canon, and I unfortunately find it cute.


End file.
